Potter loses fight with ALS MORE ON CHAPMAN
Phil Chapman, Fredericksburg's first potter, succumbs to ALS

BY EDIE GROSS




Date published: 1/26/2008

BY EDIE GROSS


In the end, it was the stillness of Phil Chapman's hands that friends would find so hard to accept.

His hands had built kilns brick by brick.

They'd molded clammy lumps of clay into sought-after bowls and vases.

They'd pulled award-winning pottery out of 1,800-degree furnaces.

They'd rebuilt his Sophia Street pottery studio, board by board, after it was gutted by fire.

But now, 2 years after being diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's disease, Chapman's hands, the tools he'd relied on for more than 30 years, had become uncharacteristically still.

"Life is just mean sometimes," his wife, potter Trista Depp Chapman, said Wednesday, two days before her husband passed away in their Fredericksburg home. "It really is."

Chapman, 55 and Fredericksburg's first full-time potter, was diagnosed with ALS in August 2005, about six months after first telling doctors he was experiencing weakness in his right leg and unexplained fatigue.

The fatal disease attacks the nerve cells in a person's brain and spinal cord, destroying voluntary muscle movement.

Chapman began using a wheelchair about 18 months ago. His bright blue eyes had stayed fierce throughout, but in recent weeks, he'd struggled to speak and his hands remained at rest.

Chapman was fresh out of college and full of enthusiasm when he arrived in Fredericksburg in 1976. His job: to entertain downtown tourists by throwing clay in front of a picture window in a shop at Sophia and Hanover streets.

He later moved his operation to Spotsylvania County and then founded Sophia Street Studios next to his downtown Fredericksburg home. There, he worked for 25 years, mastering the art of raku, a Japanese style of pottery with a cracked finish that became his hallmark.

In 1995, fire gutted the studio. Chapman briefly considered starting over elsewhere, but he stayed and rebuilt the studio with help from friends and other local artists.

Five years later, he and Trista would help start the Empty Bowl Fundraiser, a soup dinner that benefits the Rappahannock Council on Domestic Violence.

Chapman was recognized within the arts community for an almost fanatical dedication to perfection.

He spent years experimenting with kiln materials, temperatures, glazes and finishes before adopting his complex raku process.

He literally set himself on fire once trying to create the perfect clay pot for his brother.

Often at work into the wee hours of the morning, he tolerated no flaws. And even after all the honors, the bests in show and awards of excellence, he didn't consider himself an expert.

"Anybody who thinks they are a master of clay is full of it," he said shortly after his diagnosis. "They call it 'practicing medicine.' This is just 'practicing clay.' It'll always be a challenge."

When the effects of ALS weakened his hands and drained him of energy, he ceased making his own pottery and instead devoted his efforts to helping wife Trista improve hers.

He also mentored potter Daniel Christie, who, like Chapman, arrived in Fredericksburg fresh out of art school with a yen for perfection.

"I always secretly liked the fact that some people, even at the hospital, would say, 'Is this your son?'" Christie said yesterday. "It was something I was flattered by."

After his diagnosis, Chapman enrolled in a drug trial at the University of Virginia, took up yoga, adopted a daily regimen of vitamins and supplements, and barred unhealthy foods from his diet--all in an effort to battle the degenerative nerve disease.

In February 2006, Chapman's prognosis seemed more hopeful when tests indicated he had Lyme disease, a less life-threatening condition than ALS.

But his health did not improve. Speaking became more difficult, navigating stairs dangerous.

On bad days, Chapman said he tried to focus on the family and friends who had supported him.

"I'm so privileged," he said about a year ago. "I can't feel bad about things. I always come back to that. I have it pretty good. For what's happened to me, I have it pretty good."

Last May, he and Trista visited the Grand Canyon, a trip Chapman had always wanted to take.

At home, he settled into a first-floor sun room, created by friends who worried about him going up and down the house's staircase. From it, he could look onto the wisteria-covered patio where he'd asked his wife to marry him.

Beyond that was the gas kiln he'd built by hand. And next door, the pottery studio where he'd spent more than two decades perfecting his craft.

The wall next to his bed was covered with photos: Snapshots from the Grand Canyon. From a 2000 trip to New Zealand. From a canoe outing in Maine. From the couple's honeymoon in the Outer Banks.

In December, just after Christmas, Chapman developed pneumonia. Originally, he resisted going to the hospital.

Ultimately, he spent a week and a half at Mary Washington Hospital, but the antibiotics did not help.

He chose to come home, to the sun room, where family, friends and hospice volunteers made him comfortable.

He passed away there yesterday morning, his wife and Christie holding his hands.



Edie Gross: 540/374-5428
Email: egross@freelancestar.com

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2...ex_html?page=2

Related stories on Phil Chapman

The fight of his life (12/17/07)
Searching for answers (6/11/2006)
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2...1262008/350648
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